Digna Biotech is a biotechnology company whose mission is to add value to the research work carried out in the Centro de Investigación Médica Aplicada (CIMA) through the pre-clinical and clinical development of the intellectual property generated by its researchers.

The CIMA is one of the main private biomedical research centres in Europe, with over 300 researchers working there.

The aim of the company is the performance of pre-clinical and clinical trials, together with the process of documentation of existing products, so that it is possible to obtain licensing agreements with sector companies (pharmaceutical laboratories).

The company is the result of the joint venture between the Centro de Investigación Médica Aplicada (CIMA) of the Universidad de Navarra, which is owned by the Fundación para la Investigación Médica Aplicada (FIMA) and a group of investors, among which are some of the largest Spanish companies. Its presence in Navarre is very strong, because its partners include the Universidad de Navarra, Caja Navarra, Caja Rural de Navarra and the Government of Navarre through SODENA.

Digna Biotech works on the topical treatment of the skin lesion sclerodermia, for which it has received the category of “orphan” drug from the European Medicines Agency (EMEA). This means that the company will have exclusive marketing rights in the European market for ten years, once the substance “p144” has been authorised.

If the trials are successful the product could be on the market in 2009. The final step in bringing this hand cream to patients will be made through a pharmaceutical company that will undertake its marketing. This R&D+i process represents an investment of over 5 million euros until it is finally registered.

Digna Biotech is also working on a compound to combat hepatitis C, an illness that affects 3% of the world’s population, and for which current treatments only achieve remission of 40%-50%.

The following entities hold participations in Digna Biotech: Sodena, Caja Navarra, Caja Rural de Navarra; Grupo BBVA; Caixa Galicia; Unicaja; Alazady Biotecnológica; El Corte Inglés; Fundación para la Investigación Médica Aplicada (FIMA); Fundación Universitaria de Navarra, (FUNA); Instituto de Educación e Investigación, Investigaciones 2001; Loyalty Square de Omega Capital; Masaveu de Investigaciones y Desarrollo; Pontegadea Biotecnológica; Ungría Patentes y Marcas.

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“Digna Biotech has found an opportunity and the necessary support in Navarre to develop the patents that are licensed to it. This activity, which is backed up by the Government of Navarre and a number of financial entities, is a great achievement for a company that has only been operating for three and a half years and starts from a creative formula.

Not only has it obtained capital to finance its basic research, the company is generating structures to add value to patents and thus reach a situation in which we earn a return on our research.

The search for profitability in such a complex sector is not only based on the design of new drugs, but also on products for diagnosis that are such an essential element in the health sector”.

Pablo Ortiz
General Manager, Digna Biotech